BOUWMEESTER AGREES TO FIVE-YEAR DEAL WITH FLAMES

Calgary Flames general manager Darryl Sutter made the most of his opportunity to negotiate with Jay Bouwmeester.The defenceman avoided unrestricted free agency by agreeing to a five-year deal worth $6.6 million per year against the salary cap on Tuesday night.

The Flames acquired the rights of the 25-year from the Florida Panthers on Saturday at the NHL Draft for the rights to blueliner Jordan Leopold and a third round pick (67th overall), which the Panthers used to select right winger Josh Birkholz.

“Jay is one of the most complete defenseman in the game, and we are very pleased to have reached an agreement that will make him an important component of the Calgary Flames success,” said Sutter. “We identified Jay as the priority player where we were going to focus our money. We wanted an opportunity a few days in advance of the deadline, and that’s why we made the move we did this past weekend.”http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=283345